That headline grab your attention? It might seem like hyperbole, but there’s a clear link between your ability to weave a narrative and your potential clients’ willingness to purchase your products and services. Storytelling, when used properly, is like a hack that allows you to form better connections with prospective customers and increase the likelihood they’ll want to make a purchase. The following article will start delving into why that is the case and how you can use it to your advantage as you formulate your brand’s sales strategy.
How Storytelling Enhances Sales
First things first, we need to establish the ways in which storytelling helps boost your sales. Perhaps more than anything else, sales storytelling works because it adds a layer of humanity to the process. In hearing about the characters involved, their personalities, the challenges they faced, etc., your prospective clients can empathize and become more invested in your brand.
Over time (and correctly executed) a storytelling strategy should yield a whole host of benefits for your sales team, which typically include:
- Greater ease when trying to attract potential customers.
- Increased incentive for closing the deal (especially if you incorporate value selling into your interactions with potential clients).
- Build a connection (and trust) that can establish long-term business.
- Make your brand more memorable.
- Persuade potential clients that your brand is genuine.
As you can see, the power of storytelling merits plenty of attention. The question, however, is how you’ll build the framework for and utilize storytelling to its maximum benefit. That’s the topic we’ll be touching upon in our next section.
Making Sales Memorable Through Stories
Sales storytelling will give you an opportunity to flex your creative muscles—showing just how inventive you can be in crafting a pitch while imbuing that pitch with some instant personality. Remember that you don’t necessarily have to be an incredible writer to create stories that connect with your audience; instead, focus on these five following points:
- Start with the basics: Instead of jumping into your story without a plan, start by using the basic storytelling framework that sales teams have been successfully implementing for years— divide your tale into three acts (beginning, middle, end), and include a “prospects journey” that has a main character, a challenge to overcome, and an exciting resolution to their main problem.
- Determine your message: You want your audience to have some sort of epiphany about your brand. Decide what that will be and weave it into the fabric of your tale.
- Grab their attention: Your story is worthless if none will listen. Make sure your narrative starts in a way that will immediately grab the attention of your audience, then hold it as you deliver your important message.
- Add the human touch: Stories work because they humanize your brand. Be sure to include the human element in your tale lest you end up becoming unrelatable.
- Practice, practice, practice: Delivery of your story is key to its success, so practice telling it over and over until it becomes second nature. Working on your story “out loud” also gives you the opportunity to catch errors you may miss when just reading.
With some time, you’ll be able to consistently strike a tone that resonates with prospects and starts bolstering your bottom line. Be sure to incorporate this powerful tool into your arsenal, and watch as it helps you make strides you only dreamed of in the past.
